A shaker panel wardrobe sits somewhere between a fitted cupboard and a piece of joinery, which is exactly why quotations for it vary so widely between suppliers. One workshop prices it as a box with doors; another prices the carcass, the door profile, the finish, the internal fitout and the delivery method separately. Neither quote is wrong — they simply cover different scopes. Before you compare numbers, it helps to know what a manufacturer actually needs in order to price this item properly, and what happens when that information arrives late.

Why shaker panel wardrobe quotes are hard to compare

The shaker look is defined by its door: a flat centre panel framed by four rails and stiles, with a square or slightly profiled edge. That simplicity is deceptive. The same silhouette can be built from melamine-faced board, lacquered MDF, veneered panels or solid timber, and each route carries different tooling, finishing and lead-time consequences. Add made-to-measure sizing — the reason most buyers go to a factory rather than buying off the shelf — and you end up with an item that cannot be priced from a catalogue line.

Our shaker panel wardrobe sits in the Classic Paneled Wardrobes collection, alongside raised, recessed and arched door styles. Finish, layout and dimensions are specified per project, so an enquiry with only a room name and a photo gives us nothing to work with. What follows is the information we ask for on every wardrobe enquiry, and why each item changes the price.

1. The opening you are fitting into

Start with the space, not the product. A quotation needs the width, height and depth of the recess or wall run, measured at several points rather than one, because walls in renovated villas are rarely square. Tell us whether the wardrobe is built into a niche, aligned to a finished floor level, or carried over an obstruction such as a skirting board, radiator recess or structural column.

• Overall opening width, height and depth — measured at top, middle and bottom.
• Floor and ceiling finish levels, so we know whether scribes, plinths or an upstand are required.
• Whether the unit runs floor-to-ceiling or stops below a cornice, pelmet or lighting cove.
• Position of doors, windows, switches and power points that affect door swing or sliding tracks.

2. Door style, layout and how the wardrobe will be used

Within a paneled wardrobe family, the door profile you choose sets the machining requirement. A square-edged shaker door, a raised panel and a recessed panel are made differently, and an arched top is a different job again. If you are undecided, send the reference image and we will tell you which profiles our workshops produce as standard and which need tooling or a sample first.

Then describe how it will be lived in. Hanging length for dresses and coats, drawer count for folded clothes, shelf heights for boxes, a section for luggage above the door line, lighting inside the carcass — these decisions drive the internal specification, and the internal specification is a large share of the cost. For bedrooms where the bed sits close to the wardrobe, a sliding front can be the only workable option; our matte sliding door wardrobes show how that reads in a muted scheme, while hinged fronts suit wider rooms and give full access to the interior.

3. Materials and finish — say what you want, not what you assume

State the substrate and the surface separately. "White wardrobe" is not a specification: white melamine, white matte lacquer and white acrylic are three different products with three different prices and three different behaviour around fingerprints, edges and repair. If a colour must match an existing element — a kitchen door, a skirting, a wall — send the make and model of that element or a physical sample, because matching a colour is a finishing operation, not a checkbox.

• Carcase material and board thickness; door substrate (MDF, plywood, particleboard, solid timber).
• Surface: melamine, lacquer (matte or high gloss), acrylic, wood veneer or solid wood.
• Colour reference — RAL, a manufacturer's colour code, or a sent sample.
• Edge treatment and visible edges, especially on returns and end panels seen from the bed.
• Handles, knobs or integrated pulls; if handleless, the profile of the recessed grip.

Where a project needs both a paneled front and a specific surface, we build to that combination rather than forcing you into one catalogue item. A shaker door in matte lacquer and a matching white acrylic wardrobe in the adjoining room can be finished together so the whites actually agree — something that goes wrong far more often than buyers expect when wardrobes are ordered from different sources.

4. Quantities, sites and phasing

One wardrobe for a single bedroom and thirty across a villa or apartment scheme are not the same job. For multi-unit work, send the room schedule: unit type, wardrobe per unit, and whether layouts repeat. Repeating dimensions let us re-use drawings and cut-lists, which is where genuine savings appear in a custom order. If rooms hand over at different times, say so up front — phased production and split shipments are planned, not improvised.

5. Delivery route and installation responsibility

A made-to-measure wardrobe that arrives damaged or un-assembled on site with nobody trained to hang it is a failed order regardless of price. Tell us the destination country, whether the delivery address is a private residence or a builder's compound, lift and stair access, and who installs: your local joiner, our site team under guidance, or us as part of a wider fit-out. Our logistics and door-to-door delivery service covers freight forwarding by sea, air and rail with customs paperwork and container loading arranged from the factory; installation and after-sales support are separate services we scope per project rather than bundle invisibly into a unit price.

A short checklist to send with your enquiry

• ✔ Measured opening: width, height, depth at multiple points; floor and ceiling levels.
• ✔ Door style reference (photo or profile name) and hinged or sliding preference.
• ✔ Internal layout sketch or clothing list: hanging, drawers, shelves, lighting.
• ✔ Substrate plus surface finish, with a colour code or physical sample.
• ✔ Hardware choice and any matching items elsewhere in the project.
• ✔ Quantity schedule and handover phasing per unit or floor.
• ✔ Destination, access conditions, and who installs.
• ✔ Any standards or performance documents that apply to this order.

Send those eight items and a quotation comes back that you can actually compare line by line against other suppliers — same carcass, same door profile, same finish, same delivery terms. Send less, and you will get a number that looks cheap until the variation orders arrive.